Mat vs. Machete

Mat was cutting coconuts this morning, which he has done many times. This time his left hand was too close and he macheted his left thumb.

He casually walks up the stairs and in the house and says "mom, I need stitches."

At first, I'm like, what did you say-then it sinks in as the blood is running from his hand.

Immediately I grabbed a pile of napkins just to absorb the blood. Then Hannah & I got the chinese herb that coagulates the blood fast. We put that on and topped it with gauze, while Bella ran for Junior to take us to the Hospital. Of course Chris is gone when this happens-so his medic skills weren't on hand.

Junior drove us because I held on to Mat, he was in quite a bit of pain and hyperventilating a bit.

Got to La Loma Luz and they unwrapped the gauze and looked-that herb is amazing it had stopped the bleeding! As soon as the nurse washed it off so they could look at his hand, he was bleeding again and they were having a tough time getting it to stop.

As this is going on Mat was starting to feel faint so I was holding him up as they had him standing at a sink. This is Belize.......I said he needs to lay down and they let him. I had to ask for a cool cloth but they were kind about getting it.

Through all of this, I was praying, yet also thanking God that his thumb was still there. The doctor had to tourniquet his thumb to be able to stitch because the bleeding wouldn't stop. So I know that herb really works, burns a lot but it does stop bleeding.

They wanted to give him another Tetanus shot but I told them I wanted to be able to check his records first.

Well, now we are home and he is stitched but he is still a little pale. I gave him some motrin (400mg) for pain and he's laying down resting. I did check his vaccine records and he had a tetanus in 2008, so that is good for him. 

Poor kid he's had a fever since Saturday night (low grade) and a sore throat. We are praying that he will get better and his thumb will heal!

Mat's thumb today March 27th.